Alberto’s in Chipping Norton is already so busy it’s almost impossible to get a table, and believe me we’ve tried.
However after much persistence, we finally secured a holy grail of a booking and arrived on Saturday night to find out what all the fuss was about. It was love at first sight, the window framed by merry dinners, chatting and carousing over some great looking food.
It’s an intimate, bijou and hugely characterful space, tables squeezed in along the bar and through the back towards the open plan kitchen.
Throw in new restaurant owners Claire Lenkowiec and her Italian fiance Valerio Grimaldi-Plant, who run front of house and the kitchen respectively, and the picture is complete, the restaurant named after Valerio’s grandfather.
Hailing from The George in Barford St Michael, the pair finally decided to open their own place – an Italian pantry and restaurant – and luckily chose Chipping Norton, which means that Alberto’s is a labour of love, the couple’s pride and passion evident in every detail and every dish, Claire greeting their customers with great fondness.
Alberto’s is obviously packed out for a reason, but one glance at the menu confirmed my wildest dreams, featuring some of my favourite dishes and ingredients.
‘I actually drank the dressing when no one was looking’
So straight in then – the scarmorza al forno (£7) was a must, usually shipped over from Naples by a friend of mine, but here served bubbling hot, the rind like a crust, providing an authentic depth of flavour to the smoked mozzarella.
A plate of the prosciutto e burrata with tarallo (like curls of hard savoury biscuit) (£7), so simple, the ingredients left to speak for themselves, the cheese bouncy and soft, the ham thin and sweet. Perfecto!
As for the zucchini al limone (£7) it literally took my breath away. I actually drank the dressing when no one was looking, after finishing the marinated, thinly sliced courgettes with lemon and black pepper (£7), the citrus cutting through the olive oil, which presumably hailed from the gods.
We had a tiny table and things were piling up, so despite wanting to devour most of the small plates, we desisted and ordered two plates of pasta instead – the £16 spaghetti agilo, olio e pereroncino (garlic, chilli, olive oil and parsley) so often a plate of pasta with things scattered across it, but here combined to create a humble pungency that defied belief.
‘Absolutely heavenly, the pasta is fresh and homemade, sucking up the sauce. I ate it unashamedly as it dribbled down my chin’
But the jewel in the crown here was the spaghetti al granchio – fresh picked crab, lobster bisque, tomato and parsley (£19), the crab didn’t overpower but instead melded beautifully with the bisque, the pasta fresh and homemade, sucking up the sauce. Absolutely heavenly I ate it unashamedly as it dribbled down my chin.
Following all of this up with a pizza might seem a bit much, but in for a penny….and we rather over-ambitiously went for the Quattro Formaggi (£17), tempted by the plates whistling past from the wood-burning pizza oven beyond – the burrata, parmesan, gorgonzola, taleggio and mozzarella (technically five cheeses) scattered throughout rather than a quarter each, and while tasty, incredibly rich.
Under the circumstances a good old margarita probably would have sufficed, but such is gluttony though. And yes our eyes were bigger than our stomachs; although by the time we’d finished that would have been quite a feat!
And yet we still managed desserts, as recounted by Claire – cannoli with pistachio and another with salted caramel, and a portion of the tiramisu.
Now I’m not one for a tiramisu, ruined by too many sickly sweet, overtly creamy concoctions masquerading as the real deal, but here the dark, sharp, bitter coffee was almost savoury in taste, followed by a hit of booze and then the gentle layers of spongy ladyfingers. I might be a convert.
But the cannoli stole the biscuit (sorry) dotted with nuts and chocolate, the pastry sticking in your teeth, while the pistachio cream made me actually close my eyes in delight.
So yes, Alberto’s had me at ‘ciao’, and if we can get another table we’ll see you there! If not we’ll fight you for it!
Alberto’s is at 21a High Street, Chipping Norton, OX7 5AD and open Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri and Sat nights 6pm-9pm and Friday and Saturday lunchtimes. https://albertospantry.co.uk
